One Direction's Zayn Malik causes furor over Palestine tweet

One Direction singer Zayn Malik set the Internet on fire by tweeting "#FreePalestine."

But here's the strange thing: Once people started complaining, he didn't delete it.

A few celebrities have weighed in on the Israeli-Palestinian crisis in Gaza in recent weeks by tweeting support for Palestine, but most, including Rihanna and Dwight Howard, quickly deleted their tweets after experiencing a huge backlash by supporters of Isreal.

Malik, however, is described as a "British-Pakistani boy-bander, 21, who is also Muslim," by the New York Daily News. He reportedly received both praise and backlash from fans after posting the tweet Sunday night.

Zayn Malik of One Direction performs at SAP Center in San Jose, Calif. on Tuesday, July 30, 2013. (LiPo Ching /Bay Area News Group)

The News reported that some of the more sensible folks on the Internet went as far as suggesting Malik kill himself, while others accused him of being anti-Semitic. Then a bunch of "One Direction" fans -- because everyone realizes they can change other people's opinions about this by calling them names -- went after each other.

By Monday morning, Malik's message was retweeted more than 150,000 times and was "favorited" just as many times.

Selena Gomez also took some flak for posting an Instagram message on July 18, saying, "It's about humanity. Pray for Gaza."

"Please pray for those families and babies today," she captioned the photo. "Please always remember what's important in life. It's not any of this. We are here to help, inspire and love. Be that change. #wearethenextgeneration."

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"And of course to be clear, I am not picking any sides," she added. "I am praying for peace and humanity for all!"

That girl has some nerve, praying for peace. She needs to go back to feeding Justin Bieber grapes.

Gomez, 22, didn't delete the post, despite the backlash from those who took it as pro-Palestine.